BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Roche grants Galenica U.S. rights to Mircera

May 29, 2015 2:41 AM UTC

Galenica Ltd. (SIX:GALN) gained exclusive U.S. commercialization rights to Mircera methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta from Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY). Roche will manufacture and supply the drug to Galenica. Financial terms were undisclosed.

Mircera was approved in the U.S. and EU in 2007 to treat anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD), though its U.S. launch has been delayed by litigation. In December 2009, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered final judgment and a permanent injunction preventing Roche from selling Mircera in the U.S., concluding a five-year patent dispute between Roche and Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN). The decision came after the companies said in a joint filing to the court that Mircera infringed five of Amgen's erythropoietin patents (see BioCentury Extra, Dec. 22, 2009). ...